Teacher Workshop Explores High School Financial Planning Program


February 9, 2017, 1:47 pm | Carol Ehlers, Jan Monahan, Laura Sternweis

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- The Northwest Area Education Association and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach invite Iowa educators to learn how to teach the High School Financial Planning Program April 24 in Sioux City.Tablet User

The High School Financial Planning Program is a vetted curriculum from the National Endowment for Financial Education. Carol Ehlers and Jan Monahan, human sciences specialists in family finance with ISU Extension and Outreach, will teach the workshop. It will cover the curriculum’s six modules that address student hands-on learning in money management, borrowing, earning power, investing, financial services and insurance.

The training will be Monday, April 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Northwest AEA, 1520 Morningside Ave., Sioux City. There is a $20 cost for educators to be paid through their local schools; however, registrants are encouraged to ask about Iowa Core Funds for reimbursement. To pre-register, contact Jody Still Herbold at 712-222-6213 or jherbold@nwaea.org.

The State of Iowa already requires that financial literacy 21st century skills be taught in school, Ehlers noted. Iowa House File 28, introduced in January, would add a one-half unit course in personal finance literacy to the program Iowa schools are required to offer in grades 9-12. All students would have to complete the course in order to graduate from high school, and the curriculum must meet national standards in K-12 personal finance education.

Iowa was included in a recent Council for Economic Education study. The 2016 Survey of the States: Economic and Personal Finance Education in Our Nation’s Schools showed that there has been no improvement in student economic education in recent years and only slow growth in personal finance education, Ehlers said.

“In this workshop we will look at strategies to use in handling and managing debt, how to use various financial services, how to create a personal insurance plan, ways to examine how choice of career and lifestyle will affect personal financial planning, and much more. Educating and training educators on financial skills using the High School Financial Planning Program will be extremely beneficial to all Iowa communities, as our young people gain valuable skillsets for their future,” Ehlers said.

Find out more about the High School Financial Planning Program and ISU Extension and Outreach at www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/high-school-financial-planning.

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